Assessment of Japanese ESL Learners’ Interactional Competence during Their Study Abroad Program

Interactional competence (IC) researchers (see, e.g., Hall & Pekarek, 2011; Young, 2011) pointed out that there is little evidence of how changes in learners' IC might happen. With this concern in mind, this study seeks to investigate and explain those changes by collecting data from Japanese ESL learners' experiences as they participate in a study abroad program. My central question in this study is what makes an English study abroad context unique for L2 learning and development and in particular L2 learners' development of IC. In other words, the aim of this study is to reveal what type of knowledge and ability could promote the use of IC resources and successful participation in NS-NNS interactions. The research project is a case study designed to investigate the development of 10 Japanese ESL learners' IC by collecting and analyzing data at three-time points during the students' study abroad program. During the students' five-month study abroad program in the US or Canada, informal conversations between Japanese ESL learners and native speakers were recorded at three-time points. These conversational data along with immediate interviews with the participants and their diaries were collected and analyzed to explain the patterns of development and types of sociocultural experiences among individuals. The recorded conversations in the target countries were analyzed in conversation analysis (CA). These participants were also interviewed by the researcher to reflect on their problems and the strategies they used to handle the interactions. Although the participants share common background characteristics, they represented individual variations as they got involved in and developed their study abroad experiences.